This week has seen the main UK parties launch their manifestos, the SNP follow next week. But, who is going to read them and do they matter in a hung Parliament scenario?
There is no doubt that the Conservatives got their message across with the Right to Buy policy dominating the headlines – not one for the Scottish audience. However it is a policy that alienates more voters than it attracts with only 28% backing. So why would the Tories make such a policy so prominent? I very much doubt they have got their strategy wrong. They will have calculated that such a policy will make the difference with the aspirational class that they need to attract in their keys seats. It is certainly unlikely to turn away existing Conservative voters and they know they were never going to attract those on the left who oppose this policy anyway.
The Conservatives have done the same with other key policies including their plans for inheritance tax. Just 12% say this should be a priority for the government, but this is a policy again firmly targeting the aspirational class. The Conservatives are focussing their efforts on those they need to switch their vote. Their UK manifesto isn’t pretending to try and get the whole country to like them.
Labour on the other hand know that they have got a much bigger challenge. They have an unpopular leader and significantly more seats to gain than the Tories if they are to have a majority. They’ve got to persuade many more people to vote for them. They also need to persuade the public that they can be trusted to look after the economy.
Rather than focussing on niche areas Labour’s key campaign policies are targeting the substantial number of voters who still feel that the cost of living is too high. They’ve focussed on raising the minimum wage, freezing energy prices and being responsible with the public finances.
So, do the manifestos matter? A little. Certainly the 81 odd page tombs produced by the parties will hardly be read, indeed they don’t even bother printing many these days. What will matter is the communication of the key policies, it is these that they will focus on over the coming weeks and hoping that some of them stick. Some 38% of voters claim they may still change their mind on which party to vote for, so it does matter.
This article was originally published in the Sunday Times Scotland on 19 April 2015
View online: www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/scotland/